Identity
by Quicquidlibet
Summary: He'd lie, but he'd never lose who he was. Especially since she was coming back. For good. TND fic, 3/4
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I have a pounding headache that's so bad I can't even tap my teeth together without it hurting. And yet I'm still writing. So be grateful.**

**Also, today is 3/4/11. Three cheers for 3/4!**

**I don't own the Kids Next Door. So don't sue me. I don't need the stress.**

* * *

**POV: Numbah Three-Sixty-Two Rachel McKenzie**

Everyone knows about the Change. It happens when you turn thirteen. You lose all your childhood memories and experience a change in personality. Apparently, kids know of the Change too, but they have a different name for it. I've heard them call it 'decommissioning.' Rumor has it, kids were even the _cause_ of it. That they wiped your mind clean on your birthday. Well, not completely. You still remember people's names and whatever you learned in school, but you don't remember anything else, not even your friends. The Change is when you're first considered a teenager. Everyone knows about the Change. Mainly because it happens to everyone. Everybody but a select few.

I am one of them.

I am Rachel McKenzie, Numbah Three-Sixty-Two of the Teens Next Door, former Soopreme Leader of the Kids Next Door.

The Kids Next Door is an organization of kids designed to battle adult tyranny. The Teens Next Door is the exclusive part of the KND for teenage operatives who proved their loyalty before turning thirteen. TND operatives later end up adult spies. Other teens believe the TND exists to solve teenage problems and know nothing of their connection to the KND. TND missions are missions too dangerous for kids to handle. There is only one sector in the TND right now, stationed at Gallagher High because it is the center of adult tyranny at the moment. There are only four TND operatives at the moment, but we have recently looked into recommissioning an old KND sector.

Sector V. The best of the best. Better than even the KND founder, Numbah Zero. Sector V consisted of Numbahs one through five. Numbah One was Nigel Uno, the leader, son of the legendary Numbah Zero and nephew of Father, the KND's worst enemy. Numbah Two was Hoagie Gilligan, the two by four expert and older brother of The Tommy, one of the KND's greatest allies. Numbah Three was Kuki Sanban, the divisionary tactics expert and the once-leading expert on Rainbow Monkeys. Numbah Four was Wally Beatles, the only member of Sector V to be accepted into the TND and the KND's best fighter. Numbah Five was Abby Lincoln, the second in command of Sector V and the younger sister of Cree, the leader of the KND's enemies called the Teen Ninjas.

KND command arranged to have Numbah One sent back to live in England after his decommissioning, while Numbah Two went to Texas, Numbah Three went back to Japan, and Numbah Five went back to France. Numbah Four would have been sent back to Australia if he hadn't been accepted into the TND.

As secret operatives, we had to act like we really had been through the Change even though we hadn't. We had to create our own teenage personas.

Since I was alert and commanding as a kid, I had to act ditzy and complacent now that I was a teen. Numbah Eighty-Six, or Fanny Fulbright, was a loud boy-hater as a kid, so she had to act like a flirt despite the fact that she still hated boys. Numbah Sixty, or Patton Drivolsky, was stern and harsh as a kid, so he became laid back. He and Fanny had come to an uneasy truce in the beginning that he would pretend to be her boyfriend so she wouldn't have to flirt with every guy, but had eventually ended up dating for real. But Numbah Four, or Wally, probably had the most difficult persona yet.

"She told you that?" I told him on the day of his decommissioning. He was the last of his sector to turn thirteen by a whole two months. It had only been a month since the beginning of the school year and he was the currently telling me what Sammi Benners, the most popular girl in our school, had told him this morning.

"Yeah," he mumbled angrily. I stayed silent for a few seconds before continuing.

* * *

**POV: Numbah Four Wallabee Beatles**

I woke up this morning in the worst mood of my life. It was my thirteenth birthday and the day of my decommissioning. I went to school, crankier than ever.

"Hey, Wally! I see you found another reason to come to school today, even though no one wants you here!" Sammi Benners exclaimed, starting in on her daily teasing. Thanks to her, everyone in the school hated me. But despite that, I never broke.

"Shut the crud up," I growled, fed up with her already.

"I know you don't like it, but you've got to accept that you're unwanted. I'm sure it'll be easier to endure once you stop fighting the truth," she continued, despite the fact that I was glaring and prepared to attack. Too bad I don't hit girls. That witch is cruddy lucky. "I hear it's your birthday today. You ready for your Change tonight? I can't wait! A loudmouth like you will most likely end up a quiet, agreeable, little loser." She beamed at me, then walked away. I, of course, went ballistic (I love that word, it makes me sound smart) and got into a fistfight with her guy friends.

Later that day, after serving my detention, I went to Kids Next Door moonbase to be decommissioned.

"Congratulations Numbah Four! You've been selected to become a Teens Next Door operative!" Numbah Three-Sixty-Two exclaimed. I stared in shock. Teens Next Door? That explains why she was here even though she's thirteen and a half already. "Come on! You gotta meet the others! Although, I don't get that because, I mean, you already know them from the KND already, so I really don't get why you'd be reintroduced, but oh well," she rambled. Looks like that ditzy act she showed at school was rubbing off on her. After we said hi to Numbahs Eighty-Six and Sixty, she pulled me aside. "Alright, listen. You need to convince the others at school that you've had the Change. Unfortunately, we will be unable to help you since it would be suspicious if we suddenly started talking to you. Sorry about ignoring you by the way, we aren't supposed to make friends with active KND operatives. Anyway, we need to come up with a way for you to act around them." Seems she's still bossy. Sighing, I told her what Sammi had told me.

"She told you that?" she asked, completely flabbergasted (another smart sounding word that I love) that Sammi would say that.

"Yeah," I steamed silently. She stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

"I hate to say it, but that might be how you have to act. You'll have to be nice, too," she told me sadly. I scowled.

"Fine," I grumbled. "But I'm gonna be as loud and rude as I want here at the tree house. Got it?" She grinned at that. Her grin was contig... conta... ugh, I can't pronounce it! It was spreadable, okay? I smirked at her.

"They ain't gonna know what hit 'em," I boasted. "I'll show them not to pick on me."

* * *

**POV: Numbah Three-Sixty-Two Rachel McKenzie**

At school the next day, I was eating lunch when I heard the commotion. Sammi and her friends were picking on Wally again.

"Wally! You actually came to school again! What an unfortunate surprise!" She laughed cruelly. I watched as Wally winced and looked at his feet, remaining silent.

"So, little idiot, how was the Change?" her friend, Annee said and joined in on the teasing.

"It was okay..." Wally mumbled awkwardly, trying to back away from the popular teenagers, still looking at his feet. I wanted so bad to help, til I remembered that this was _Wally_. He didn't _need_ help.

"Looks like I was right about him, huh Annee? I said he'd be like this, didn't I?" Sammi gloated over the fact that she had been correct in guessing his personality change.

"What?" Wally's face was the perfect look of confusion as he looked up at them, seemingly having no idea what she meant.

"Oh, don't you worry. We don't want you killing any more brain cells by thinking about it," Annee told him, a sickeningly sweet tone to her voice. Wally blushed and looked down again. He was a surprisingly good actor.

"I'm not that dumb," he mumbled quietly. The two girls just laughed.

I was momentarily distracted as someone sat down across from me. It was Steven. He was a teen who came to the TND for their fake identity as free-for-all workers. He usually came to us to track down his little siblings whenever they went missing to keep his parents from blaming him. Today it was both of his seven year old siblings that he needed us to find, Skylar and Terra. I had a hunch that they were at the arctic base for KND cadet training, but I just kept that to my self. Once he left, I texted the others using the code we had come up with for whenever we got a new mission, KND or not. I looked up to see Sammi and Annee still teasing Wally and I winced as they grabbed his phone when it vibrated.

* * *

**POV: Numbah Four Wallabee Beatles**

My phone buzzed as I got a text message.

_Hi! It's Mom! Just telling you I love you!_

It was Rachel's code that we had a mission. We all had codenames in our phones so people wouldn't get suspicious as to why we were texting each other when I supposedly had no friends. Rachel was 'Mom', Fanny was 'Aunt Fran', Patton was 'Uncle Pete', and I was 'Grandpa William'. Luckily, none of our real parents didn't know how to use a cell phone, let alone text, so it wasn't like we had two Moms in our contacts.

Sammi snatched the phone out of my hand, eager to get some dirt on me.

"H-hey!" I protested. Ugh, I hate having to act like a dumb wimp. _And _I had to act nice! It sucks!

"Don't worry, I'll give it back," she said with a sinister look that was supposed to look sweet.

"B-b-but... um... o-okay..." I stuttered, working my butt off to keep up this cruddy act. She and Annee read over the text and snickered.

"Aww... Look it! Wally's mommy loves him!" Annee exclaimed in a giggly baby voice. I blushed bright red as they continued to tease me, not acting this time.

This was going to be a _long_ year.

* * *

**Okay, don't start yelling at me that "Numbah Four's OOC! He is SOOOO not a wimp!" and stuff like that. He's ACTING, got it? ACTING. He's not actually like that. Also, the word he couldn't pronounce was contagious, that's why it was replaced by spreadable. The next chapter will take place a year from now, when he's fourteen.**

**Whew! That was long!**

**And now, a message from the Commander (Bilal, my 'little monkey brother'. We're not related): "BILAL IS WAY COOLER THAN YOU!...NUMBAH 7399!" (Yes that is his number)**

**He's Commander, I'm Chief. Together we make Commander-an'-Chief. Remember that Soldier!**

**-Numbah 827, signing out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello. I'm feeling bad because I can't think of what to add to my other stories. -insert lots of sighing- So yeah. Just so you know, I don't write accents because I can't. Also, sorry if anyone (who has their memories) truly is OOC, not just acting. I don't know the characters that well because KND only comes on when I'm at school. -irritated face- and I only see 2 episodes at a time when I can. -more irritation- Any characters not in the TND will be without their numbers if their POV is used. Note, this is a year after last chapter. They are already two months into the school year.**

**Anywhoozles, I don't own.**

**Onward!**

**POV: Kuki Sanban**

I sighed nervously and opened the door to the classroom. I had just wandered around the halls for about five minutes, completely lost. I was worried about the class.

I had moved to Japan just after my Change, and after a year, we had moved back. I knew that none of my old friends would recognize me, just as I wouldn't recognize them. I hoped I could make new friends, but it was highly unlikely considering how shy I am and my stuttering problem.

"H-hello," I said quietly. "S-sorry I'm l-late. I g-got lost."

"Oh, are you the new student?" the teacher asked me with a surprised smile. I nodded timidly. "Welcome to Beginner's Guitar! Go on, introduce yourself."

"Um... I-I'm Kuki S-Sanban... I used t-to l-live here," I stuttered out nervously. "You p-probably d-don't remember m-me."

"Wonderful! It's nice to meet you Kuki, I'm Ms. Johnson. Why don't you go sit next to Wallabee Beatles. Wallabee, please raise your hand," she introduced herself. Wallabee was a shaggy-haired blonde boy in the back row. He wore a faded leather jacket over a large, orange hoodie, dark blue jeans, and black converse high-tops. I walked over, sat down next to him, and took out my guitar.

"H-hi..." I mumbled.

"Hi. I'm Wally," he said in an slight accent, just as quietly. He was looking down at his guitar, avoiding eye contact. I noticed that no one but me sat next to him, which meant that either he didn't like everyone else, or everyone else didn't like him.

"Um... So, w-what's it like here?" I asked, trying to fill the silence. He shrugged. Awkward... "Um... D-do you w-want to see i-if we have any other classes t-together?"

"Sure," he said, taking out his schedule. I compared the two and saw that we also had gym, study hall, and lunch together.

"L-looks like w-we have the f-first three c-classes of the d-day t-together, as well as l-lunch," I told him.

"Okay," he said, practically grunting.

"D-do you m-mind showing me the w-way there?" I asked him shyly. He nodded. "Um..."

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you talking to me?" he cut me off, looking up from his guitar for the first time, let me see his bright green eyes. That sentence let me fully determine his accent as Australian

"U-um. O-oh. S-sorry. I-I'll s-stop talking n-now." Great, even the loner didn't want to talk to me. His eyes widened.

"No! You don't have to stop! I'm just wondering. No one else likes to talk to me, so I'm a little confused," he said quickly.

"W-well, w-why not? I-I might not l-look like it, but I l-like talking to p-people," I told him. He grinned slightly at that.

"Okay. It's nice to finally have a decent conversation for once." I smiled softly when he said that. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

I thought for a minute. "You d-decide."

"Uh... Alright. Huh... Crud, I can't think of anything that isn't one of those common questions. I hate those kinds... Oh! I know! Almost no one ever asks this! What were you like before your Change?" He asked after rambling a bit. I looked at him in surprise.

"My s-sister said that I u-used to be r-really h-hyper and out-going. A-apparently I had a l-lot of friends. What about you?" I stuttered. Considering how I am now and what the Change does, I actually find how I used to act pretty believable.

"Loud and rude, according to my mom," Wally grinned. "She's thrilled that I'm so nice now." I giggled at that. That _is_ something a mom would like.

Just then a brunette came over to us, eyes glittering with malice. She seemed like the popular type, I wondered why she would come over here.

"_Hey_, Kuki! Welcome to Gallagher High! I'm Annee!" she smiled as Wally grin faded and he looked back down at his guitar. "I saw you chatting it up with this idiot and I thought I'd save you from his stupidity." I couldn't believe that she would say something so horrible about Wally, let alone in front of him so I just stared at her in shock.

"H-he doesn't s-seem stupid to m-me," I stuttered out. The look in her eyes when I said that scared me a lot, I just barely held my ground and continued to hold eye contact.

"Oh, he is. _Right,_ Wally?" she glanced at him and he winced. She huffed when he didn't respond. "See? He can't even _respond_ properly!"

"M-maybe he just d-doesn't want to t-talk t-to y-you." I can't believe I just said that. She gave me a death glare.

"You'll regret that." And with that, she left.

"Thanks," Wally muttered, still looking down. "Sorry you had to put up with her."

"It's okay. The g-girls at my o-old s-school were a l-lot w-worse," I told him with a smile. He smiled back softly and looked directly at me.

Was that regret I saw hidden in the green depths of his eyes?

* * *

**POV: Numbah Four Wallabee Beatles**

Fate is cruel. Screw fate. If fate actually exists. If it doesn't, then screw coincidence.

I cursed the decommissioning process with all my heart inside my head throughout the day. Here was Kuki, talking and laughing with me, but no _recognition._ So, technically, this stuttering _mess_ was not her. _Not_ Numbah Three, _not_ Kooks, _not_ my best friend. _Not_ Kuki Sanban. Just an imposter.

But she didn't know that.

The first three periods were pure torture. I mean, seriously, who the crud would be able to sit next to their best friend who _can't remember them _for that long? And then lunch came.

Worst twenty-five minutes of my life.

Now, normally? I'd be fine talking to someone who's _somewhat_ pleasant during lunch, just to stave off the boredom. But now, all I wanted was to be alone. Because it's not like I could _make_ her remember. She was decommissioned. I wasn't. End of story.

I wish.

Last period science I sat next to Numbah Three-Sixty-Two. I took that opportunity to confront her.

"Why is _she_ here?" I hissed as I prepared the slide for the microscope.

"I don't know who you mean," she responded quietly and sternly, looking through her binder for yesterday's notes. She looked up when she found them, her fake idiotic smile plastered on her face once again. She raised her voice to continue. "Found them!" She announced in a sing-sing voice. I barely restrained from rolling my eyes, if I did our classmates would have seen. I couldn't blow my cover.

"The slide is ready," I told her before lowering my voice once again. "Kuki is who I mean. Rachel, you _promised_ me that I wouldn't be put through the – and I quote – 'pain of recognition.' Why is she cruddy _here?_"

"I'll go over it later at the tree house. So be patient," she ordered almost silently. I let one eye roll slip through, my bangs covering my eyes, and nodded. She then slipped into her act once again. "Will you put in the microscope? I can never do it right."

* * *

**Hello, hello, hello! I just realized, Wally's using big words! GASP! Haha, but yeah. I believe that because he has to act nice and quiet all the time, he can't do anything that'll get him in trouble. Which means he has a LOT of free time. That he occasionally uses to study so he can scrape by. He's not a genius, but he can at least read at a sophomore level now. WOOHOO!**

**Anyway, Kuki is all stutter-y and shy cos it's the opposite of hyper and friendly. PLEASE DON'T MAIM ME FOR IT. Haha. Don't worry, she won't be like that the whole time, but not for reasons you might expect.**

**About half way through writing this my brain spazzed out and convinced me wholeheartedly that I was spelling 'not' wrong. This is what happens when I repeat a word too many times.**

**- Numbah 827**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome to my wilderness of imagination. Where sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. **

**The reason I chose Beginner's Guitar was because I wanted to have a class where they could talk freely, and in my experience, Study Hall is not that class. You can't talk in Study Hall, thus it wasn't used. I also picked guitar because it seems to me that Numbah Four would be a guitar playing type, while Numbah Three you wouldn't expect to play, but she still strikes me as a musician. They are in Beginner's because it bothers me when a character suddenly knows an instrument when it never says they do in the original work. **

**And now a message from my friend Abby: "I am like Romeo: long winded."**

**I don't own KND, but I do plan to steal Numbah Four. I wish he was my brother.**

* * *

**POV: Kuki Sanban**

When my English teacher told me I had to get someone to help me catch up, I won't deny I immediately thought to ask Wally. And then she went and chose for me.

Samantha Benners, or Sammi as she preferred to be called, seemed sketchy to me. She smiled in class, but the second school ended and we got out in the hall? Nasty. Nasty, nasty, nasty.

"Look, _Kuki,_ I don't care what the teacher said, I'm not your _friend._ Got it?" she sneered. I nodded, not really surprised. I saw Wally walking past and was about to say hello when one of Sammi's friends, I think his name was Dylan, slammed him into the lockers.

"Hey Beatles. Long time no see," he chuckled menacingly. Wally struggled but couldn't move. He looked up, annoyance showing in his eyes. He remained silent. It was then that I noticed his height. It seemed that I was the only one in the entire school that he was taller than, which probably isn't saying much about my height.

"Scared Wallabee?" said another of Sammi's friends, Nick. "Gonna wet your pants?"

"W-what are you d-doing? Let h-him g-go." All eyes turned to me and I quaked in my black ballet flats.

"Why do you care, _Sanban_?" Annee asked scathingly, coming up to the group.

"B-because h-he's n-nice. H-he d-doesn't d-deserve i-it." Nerves tend to make my stuttering worse, now being one of those times.

"Kuki. Stay outta this," Wally warned, eyes wide. "It has nothing to do with – mmmph!"

"No, I wanna see what she's gonna do," Nick drawled, covering Wally's mouth with his hands. "Holy crap!" He yelped, pulling his hand away. "The twerp _bit_ me!"

"Let her go!" Wally glared. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh lookie here! Beatles is growing some balls. For once," Dylan announced in mock surprise. Sammi snickered. Wally rolled his eyes.

"If I didn't have balls in the first place, why'd you kick 'em this morning?" he retorted.

And chaos ensued.

* * *

**POV: Numbah Three-Sixty-Two Rachel McKenzie**

Numbah Four may be an idiot, but he has strong nerves, I'll give him that.

"Why didn't you fight back, you stupid boy?" Fanny scolded him, patching him up.

"You'd rather have my cover blown?" he sighed in exasperation. After school he had been beaten up pretty badly by Dylan, Nick, and their friends. Wally could've taken them easily, but he had held back, like they thought he would.

"He followed the number one rule of the TND. He stayed undercover. Don't yell at him for that," Patton said, attempting to sooth his girlfriend's anger.

"He stayed undercover by making them mad?" she yelled. Both boys winced at her volume. "You stupid boys just don't understand the concept of staying on people's good side. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Whatever." Wally rolled his eyes and stood when she finished her rant. "I'm gonna go lie down."

"Get back here! You're not done!" Wally ignored her and went to his room. I sighed.

"Numbah Four, as sector leader, I'm ordering you. Let her finish healing you," I ordered into his locked door. I heard him groan as he unwillingly came back out.

"Yes ma'am," he grumbled irritably. "When are you gonna answer my question about Kuki?"

"Soon. Don't worry," I laughed. I had to admit, his crush on her was really quite adorable.

I heard a knock on the door of our 'hide-out', which was really just an abandoned building that we had bought and decorated.

* * *

**POV: Kuki Sanban**

I don't really know why we were there. Sammi had said something about having the 'TND' do her job of catching me up in school. She didn't bother to explain to me.

We were at an old abandoned toy store. The building was large and run-down, but obviously well kept. Light peeked out of the one spot in the window that wasn't boarded up. Sammi knocked on the door.

"Hello!" a blonde girl chirped enthusiastically as she opened the door. I recognized her from school, I think her name was Rachel or Rebecca. Something with an 'R.' "Can I help you?"

"I'd like to hire a member of your little club to make sure she's caught up in class. The teacher asked me to, but I'd rather not waste my time," Sammi responded rudely, shoving me forward when she mentioned me. The other girl laughed.

"You'll have to fill out some paper work. You can't just drop her off," she told Sammi. "Come on in. Oh, you probably haven't met me yet. I'm Rachel," she continued to me. "I already know you're Kuki. Everyone was talking about you at school today."

"H-hi," I replied as Sammi dragged me into the building. The inside was rather odd. There was a small area where we had just walked in with a desk, a chair, and a couch. It looked a lot like a waiting room and a receptionist's desk. There were three doors and a hallway. One door was open, I could see a living area and a kitchen merged into one through the doorway. The other two doors were labeled 'Infirmary' and 'Bathroom.' Down the hallway, I saw four rooms. They each had a different label. One was labeled '4' while the door next to it was '60'. On the other side of the hall, the doors were marked '86' and '362'. I found it all quite strange.

"So you basically want us to help her get up to date with the curriculum?" Rachel asked, getting down to business with a cheerful smile. She sat at the desk and motioned for us to settle ourselves on the couch.

"Yeah. Can you just hurry it up?" Sammi told her snarkily. Rachel just ignored her and rummaged through the desk drawers and pulled out some papers, which she handed to Sammi.

"Just fill these out and we'll be done." Sammi grabbed the papers and started filling them out at a breakneck speed. "Just call if you need us for anything. Kay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sammi snapped, practically throwing the now filled out papers on the desk and walking out.

The second the door slammed in her wake, I heard a loud yell from the 'Infirmary'. Why do they even have that anyway? Er... Back to the point.

"Argh! Fanny! Are you _trying_ to break my arm even _more?_" came a loud yell. Was it just me, or did that sound an awful lot like...

"W-was that Wally?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Seriously, why was he here?

"Ow! You_ brok_e my arm! Why the crud did you _break _my _arm?_" Wally yelled. My eyes widened. What the heck is going on in there?

"Shut up and sit still, you stupid boy! I wouldn't have broken it if you'd just listen to me!" screeched an Irish voice, quite loudly.

"That's enough! Both of you _behave!_" Rachel shouted, scaring me out of my wits. She seemed so nice, how is sh_e _so_ loud?_

The door to the infirmary slammed open and Wally stalked out, his right arm in a cast. He stormed angrily down the hallway and into the room marked '4'.

"I'm... c-confused..." I said honestly.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," said a dark haired boy as he walked out of the infirmary, closely followed by an angry redhead.

* * *

**Lame ending, I know.**

**Anyway, for some reason I love it when someone says "Yeah, I get that a lot" after being insulted or something. I don't know why.**

**I've recently noticed that whenever I'm sick, my mom gets even more irritated with me. That ain't right. Isn't she supposed to be taking care of me? Also, she gets mad that I ask her multiple times to repeat something, even though she's the one making a ridiculous amount of noise whenever she talks. This is what I live with.**

"**That isn't awkward. You know what's awkward? The spelling of awkward." My French teacher is epic.**

**- Numbah 827**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, um, hello. Sorry… I've been gone for quite some time now… Um… How do I explain this… Well… You see… There was this thing… And something happened… And I kinda… Died… Now I'm sure you're thinking "how are you here if you died?" Well, you see, I didn't. I'm just saying that so you won't kill me. *hides behind Jack***

* * *

**POV: Numbah Four Wallabee Beatles **

My head was spinning. "You're serious?" I asked. Rachel nodded with a slight grin. "They can do that?"

Fanny rolled her eyes. "Of course, you idiot. Don't you remember that one time when Chad made your old team get an early decommissioning? They did it then."

"I remember. I just thought it was off-limits for teens," I snapped back. My eyes darted down the hallway where Kuki was mumbling something to Patton. "Seriously? My entire team?"

Rachel smiled, clearly enjoying this. "Well, not all at the same time and we have to make sure we trust them first, but yeah. Everyone. The TND heads are arranging for them to transfer in at random times."

I grimaced. "So I have to pretend not to know them until we trust them?" I sighed. "Fine."

"Okay!" Fanny exclaimed. "Now, let's get down to business. Rachel, why the crud is she here?" I chuckled, Fanny could be so rude without even trying. Rachel laughed and led us back out to the living room to talk to Kuki and Patton.

* * *

**POV: Kuki Sanban **

It had been a week since I met the TND. Apparently they were free-for-all workers that other teens hired to do odd jobs. Their name, the Teens Next Door, was supposedly making fun of something they had heard kids saying, the 'Kids Next Door'. I had never heard of it.

It was decided that I would come to their 'hideout' after school so they could tutor me until I'm up to date. They split the work, everyone teaching me a different subject.

Something I had discovered about them was that they acted very different at their headquarters than they did at school. For example, Fanny, the Irish redhead, was sweet and kind at school. Everyone loved her. In the TND, she was yelling all the time. I've actually learned to block her out, she yells so much. I've just gotten so accustomed to her yelling. Rachel isn't as dumb as she seems, she's actually incredibly intelligent and respectable. Patton was a total slacker in school, he never did any of the classwork. Yet here in the TND, he gets the most work done.

"WALLY!" Fanny screeched this afternoon. For the very first time, I managed not to flinch. Rachel continued telling me about the writing project I had to make up. Fanny continued. "WHY DID YOU BREAK MY X-RAY MACHINE?"

Wally intrigued me the most. From what I've seen of him, his natural persona is to fight and yell and just be generally angry at everything. What I couldn't understand was why he was such a pushover at school. Why didn't he stand up for himself?

"I didn't break your cruddy machine!" He yelled back in irritation, slamming the fridge and collapsing on the couch to watch TV. "You broke it cos Patton pissed you off again!"

"Lies!" Patton announced jokingly. "I would never make our dear Fanny mad!" He started chuckling, sitting next to Wally and picking up a video game controller. "Come on, Four. You owe me a rematch for last week."

"You're on, Sixty!" Wally smirked. That was another mystery, they used numbers as nicknames. I asked once and they said that they once played a racing game as those numbers. I was still confused.

Fanny steamed in her office, the infirmary, and looked about ready to blow. "WALLABEE BEATLES, I DON'T CARE IF YOU BROKE IT OR NOT. YOU'RE HELPING ME FIX IT. GET YOUR BEHIND IN HERE!"

My eyes widened at Wally's response. "Why should I? You're not the boss of me."

Fanny's face grew into a malicious grin. "If you don't I'll tell Numbah Three about just how much you like her."

Wally froze, blushing. "I don't like her. She's my best friend. That's all."

This was an interesting development... "W-who's Numbah Th-three?" I asked. At that Wally's face hardened and he stormed into his room, slamming the door with incredible force. Fanny stopped grinning and for once didn't continue to shout at him. Patton got up and gave Fanny a small hug and Rachel stared at the wall. They were all stony faced. "What? W-what's wrong?"

Rachel gave me a strained smile. "Nothing. It's just that that's a very sore subject, especially for Wally. He'll be fine in a couple of minutes."

"I'm s-sorry!" I stammered out, ashamed. Rachel waved her hand dismissively.

"It's not a problem. You didn't know," she said, changing the focus back to our previous conversation about writing homework.

* * *

**POV: Abigail Lincoln **

"Abby! Can you come into the kitchen please?" Mom yelled. I looked away from the mirror.

"I'll be right down!" I responded as I finished my make-up. "Just let me finish getting dressed!" I buttoned up my shirt and pulled my skirt on over my leggings. I pulled my hair into a high ponytail as I walked downstairs to the kitchen.

Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table with my seventeen year old sister Cree. I smiled and joined them, pouring myself some orange juice. "Good morning. What's up?"

"I don't know," Cree told me. "They wanted to tell us together, apparently."

Dad started talking in that confusing way of his, but I just listened as Mom spoke over him.

"Girls, we're moving back to America. Into our old house actually. You'll get to see your old friends again," she told us, her voice laced with excitement. Cree grinned as my face fell.

"But I won't remember my old friends. We moved here right after my Change, remember?" I asked worriedly. It had taken me a few weeks to make the friends I had now, I would have to go through that all over again?

"Don't worry Abby, I'm sure my friends will love you. You can hang with us," Cree reassured me. I nodded and gave a small smile, still a little sad.

I was down for the rest of the week. Finally, it was time for me and Cree to start at Gallagher High. I followed my sister into the halls, a ball of nerves lodged into the pit of my stomach.

Our lockers were on either side of an Asian girl who was wearing a green tank top and a black skirt. A blonde boy in an orange hoodie was leaning against the lockers talking to her quietly. He probably didn't mean to, but he was blocking Cree's locker.

"Hey! Shorty! You're blocking my locker!" she snapped, making the boy jump.

"Sorry," he mumbled, staring at his feet as he moved out of the way.

"Wait," Cree drawled, grinning deviously. I looked at her in confusion as she went through her locker. "I know you two. Wally Beatles and Kuki Sanban, right?"

Both the boy and the girl turned to her in confusion. "H-how did y-you kn-know th-that?" the girl stuttered, not out of fear. It looked to be a habit of hers.

"You're Abby's old friends. You lot were SO annoying before your Change. Just SO immature," Cree laughed. "Hey Abs, why don't you see if you get along still? I'll be with my friends if it doesn't work out." She slammed her locker shut and turned the boy, Wally. "In the future, stay out of my way Shorty," she threatened.

His eyes widened in fear and he nodded quickly. "I will. Don't worry."

After she left we were left with awkward silence. I gave a shy smile as I opened my locker. "Hi. I'm Abby. Sorry about Cree. She's a little... Well... She gets it from Dad..."

The girl smiled. "I'm K-Kuki and th-this is W-wally. But I-I g-guess your s-sister a-already told y-you."

I laughed at that. I looked over to Wally and saw him shifting nervously, constantly glancing at his feet. "Is he always this skittish?" His eyes darted to meet mine.

"You'd be jumpy too if the entire school hated you," he replied easily. Kuki made some sort of noise that must have been a kind of protest and he laughed. "Alright, the entire school except for one person. Who, by the way, is also hated by most of the school."

I giggled. "The whole school? That can't be true."

He tilted his head in a contemplative gesture. "Well... The whole student part. The staff don't really mind me."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?" They both nodded. "How'd you manage that?"

Quite suddenly, I heard a peppy voice from behind me. "Hi! I'm Sammi. Are you the new girl?"

I turned and saw a tall blonde backed by a brunette and two identical blonde boys. "Yeah... I'm Abby."

"I'm Annee and these two are Dylan and Nick. Don't bother trying to remember who's who, they respond to either," the brunette rambled. "Are these two losers bothering you?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kuki glance nervously at Wally, while Wally looked at his feet.

* * *

**POV: Numbah Four Wallabee Beatles **

I looked to my feet for calm. I needed to calm down, I couldn't break character, especially not with Cree back in town. I saw Kuki looking at me, probably expecting me to yell like I do back at the hideout.

"Uh, no?" I heard Abby respond. "Um, why are they losers?"

"Really?" Sammi asked, her voice condescending. "Look at them! The idiot Wally can't defend himself from anything and Kuki can't even speak properly!"

Abby looked startled as she just now realized my left arm was in a cast. "But why would Wally need to defend himself? And Kuki can speak just fine, I've met people with worse stuttering problems."

I looked at her in shock. Why was she defending us?

"He just doesn't know his place. We run this school and he's such an idiot that he forgets sometimes." Really Nick? That's your reasoning? You're the idiot.

"But we showed him last week. Didn't we Beatles?" Dylan added, slamming me into the lockers. I faked a flinch and avoided his eyes. He grinned at my artificial fear and continued to boast. "See? Cowering just like he should. He may be an idiot, but he still knows who's boss around here."

I saw Abby open her mouth, her brow creased in worry. She was probably about to protest when Sammi shot her a warning look and she stayed silent.

Abby was different from when she knew me. The Abby I knew, the Numbah Five version of her, would never stand to see an innocent person be bullied like I am now. (Although, this is probably payback for all my bullying days as a kid.) This Abby was desperate. In need of friends and willing to do whatever it took to get them. It made me sad to see her like this. She used to be so cool.

I felt bad for her, being such a typical girl. Not only that, she has to live with Cree.

Speaking of Cree, what was that? What's she trying to pull? She knows teens don't associate with pre-Change friends.

I need to tell Numbah Three-Sixty-Two.

* * *

***peeks out from behind now-dead Jack* Is it safe?**

***arrow flies past* EEK! JACK!**

***Jack dies. Again* You know, it's really handy to hide behind the Man Who Can't Die…**

**~Numbah 827 (The Mystery)**


End file.
